Wales team to face Georgia

roy munster wrote: scarletpimp wrote: I have watched some awful Wales performances in my time, but this MUST take the biscuit ! In fairness, as quite a few on the forum have said full credit to Georgia, they played well, but are a limited side, who Wales should normally (in the past) beat, 9 times out of 10. Problem with that statement "normally", may not now come in to play...and WHY, absolute lack of depth to what we have available, particularly in the front five. To beat Georgia, we needed to get over the gain line, and move the ball quickly, varying the point of attack. It didn't happen. Lack of ball carriers, quite evident After two quick scores in the first half, we had Georgia on the ropes, but didn't take advantage. They were committing offences regularly, but not once did I see Tipuric in the ref's ear. He may have been a great player, but as a captain, has to be assertive, to ensure officials are aware that offences are mounting. Not a great choice by Pivac, but again, he has limited options. Second half Georgians, a better side I watched a very spirited, but flawed performance by Australia against Ireland earlier. Unlucky, to at least not get a draw. There is very little likelihood of Wales beating them, and therefore, we would end an abysmal autumn series, and poor 2022. I always try to be positive and have been supportive of Pivac in the past. His record though, is shockingly poor, and getting worse. Started well, when we won 6 nations, but there were a few more options regarding players available then. We beat aussies last autumn and SA this summer, but these performances are sporadic. He has had to experiment, due to lack of quality &numbers, but some of the decisions have been bizarre. We desperately need ball carriers, but big guys like Rhys Carre , who despite my reservations about his scrummaging has played better this year. Moriarty is another glaring omission. Tactically Wales seem bereft of leadership, on and off the field, with little cohesion and creativity. There appears no clear vision of how we want to play the game, and if there is a plan, the players themselves seen inept with regard to their skills set to put any plan into practise. The game is littered with unforced errors. Now normally, we see an improvement, as the 6 nations or Autumn series continues, as the players have had longer together. NOT THIS Time, and maybe the loss to Italy was another indication. It's clear to me Pivac's position, whatever the result against Australia is untenable, and Stephen Jones must also shoulder the blame for the turgid and unimaginative attack, which looks for contact, not space  It's a gamble to change a coaching team, with the world cup a year away, but we can do no worse! There is also the financial aspect of compensation with regard to contracts (etc), to be considered, but as someone on the forum has already mentioned, if things don't change, we could lose out financially to a bigger tune in the long run. Finally, changing the coaches, is only a short-term fix. The bigger problem is changing the culture, structure and organisation of rugby in Wales  HAS TO BE SERIOUS CHANGES going forward. There has been a steady decline over the last decade, papered over by the way Gatland and his coaching team got the best out of the players, again and again. Now he has gone, the cracks are exposed. The regions cannot carry on failing in the way they are, and they are not supported adequately, by the top tiers of the community game or premiership. The WRU has proved time and again, it cannot be trusted. How can we plan for next season, when budgets, are still not yet agreed upon? What business can possibly operate like that? The way the union have approached the women's game, prove it can be done. Root and branch changes need to be made and a firm commitment to build from a solid base, with strong investment to grow the game, from a young age, right through Only then, we will have better chance of success on the international stage, on a regular basis. This is the only way we will survive! Good point about moriarty, an abrasive specimen who at least attempts to cross the gain line

GPR - Rochester wrote: Surely the WRU must terminate the contracts of the coaching team en bloc. The performances are totally unacceptable. What happened about we get better as we have more access to the players - total stupidity. The WRU should already have agreed a contract with the next head coach - all that remains to be done is to try to bring their start date forward to January 1st. Months ago my suggestions were Robertson or Shaun Edwards as head coach. Shaun is now out of the equation as he has signed an extension to 2027 with France.  Get Robertson in with his own team - pay whatever compensation they need to the Crusaders. Pivac & his coaching team have made us a laughing stock & it has to end now.

dr_martinov wrote: Very glad I celebrated the 2019 Grand Slam as hard as I did as that could be the last for a while. Shame I don't remember any of it.  We did beat Argentina as well so I guess it's not all bad, but losing to Georgia indicates a severe lack of preparation, poor game plan and players cannot be implementing their skills, fitness and strength on the pitch. I didn't watch the game so that is based on player level, you know Georgia will have a top front row, strong scrum plus a danger player or two but Wales should be superior in all other aspects.  I will say well done to Georgia but yet another massive wake up call for Wales. Losing to Italy and Georgia in Cardiff should not be acceptable. A win against Australia would certainly improve things so I even say this is now a must win game for Pivac and co. I actually wouldn't be surprised if we won as it's the inconsistency that's our current hallmark.

Let’s start by congratulating Georgia on a win away to a 6 nations country.  They showed greater composure and game management in the second half (which is when the game is won or lost).

Wales have lost 8 out of 11 Internationals this year 

hoppy wrote: Wales have lost 8 out of 11 Internationals this year  Should Georgia be bought into the six nations after beating Italy and Wales

hoppy wrote: Wales have lost 8 out of 11 Internationals this year  Should Georgia be bought into the six nations after beating Italy and Wales

South Africa will be the next side joining the Six Nations 

Gate12 wrote: Welsh rugby has issues all over the place which contribute towards that performance but pivac got things badly wrong again. Having a front 5 of Jones, Roberts, Wainwright, beard and Jenkins and a 9 who's played the full 80 alongside a youngster at 10 to see the game out is tactically awful. If you want to see how less experienced players go you probably put someone like awj alongside carter or Jenkins, in the frontrow you'd want ken alongside Wainwright, halfbacks you start with either costelow or dane. Pivac and gats before him really aren't very smart when bringing players through.

These were inevitable, almost engineered, outcomes, as was starting a 6,8,12,13 and 15 in shirts that their club/region don't.

Clearly we were planned to be home and hosed by the hour mark, and to be fair after 20 mins that looked a reasonable possibility, what ensued however, was a bus crash of biblical proportions.

You have to feel a bit for Daf Jenkins, Costelow and even Wainwright to an extent...put on with the opposition in the ascendancy and expected to see the team home.

Nicky Smith and Francis on the naughty step, Carre excluded in the manner of us having options in the front row akin to that of SA...?

Georgia are a Tier 1 country in one facet of play alone, scrums...so you pick a front row bench that aren't first choice for their teams, have a handful of playing minutes between them this season to match them?

Nah, you deserve all you get. Daft.

You can bring AWJ, Anscombe and presumably Francis back in next week (losing Rees-Zammitt, Daf Jenkins, Tompkins, Tschiunza and Refell to the squad).
Hardly ideal against an improved Australia.